However its lawyers did not attend the court hearing. The RCN had argued that the six months period for strike action started the day after the ballot closed, so claimed the May 2 strike would be lawful. Mr Barclay confirmed that he would apply to the High Court to declare the May 2 action unlawful, following a request from NHS Employers. The ruling comes as NHS physiotherapists accepted the Government's pay deal, while podiatrists rejected it.Īs the RCN announced the results of their historic strike ballot on November 2 last year, NHS Employers argued this period technically ends on May 1. Speaking outside the Royal Courts of Justice after the historic judgment, she claimed the 'absolutely shocking' legal action was a demonstration of the 'least trusted people' taking the 'most trusted profession through the courts'. Pat Cullen, general secretary of the RCN, confirmed the union would now cancel the planned action on May 2 - but would go ahead with it on April 30 and May 1. He said the union had demonstrated a 'high degree of unreasonableness' and ordered it to pay the costs of the hearing. Royal College of Nursing (RCN) chiefs had scheduled a 48-hour strike in England from 8pm on April 30 to 8pm on May 2 in an escalation of its ongoing pay row with ministers.īut Judge Thomas Linden, siding with the Government in the landmark showdown, ruled that the final day would be unlawful as it fell outside of the six-month window from when RCN members backed strike action. Strike action planned by nurses on May 2 has been called off after a High Court judge ruled it would be unlawful.
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